We EcoGeeks are always on the lookout for ways to economically and safely store carbon dioxide. We want to “put it in a lock box” and never let it out. One promising technology for doing just that, with useful side effects, has been developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

This new process transforms common concrete by treatment with carbon dioxide under high pressure, to make a very strong, nearly impermeable building material that is chemically similar to coral.

The CO2 is pressurized until it is pretty much half gas and half liquid. The process can also make inexpensive building products out of waste materials, including fly ash from coal-burning power plants, alum sludge from water treatment plants and blast furnace slag.

That's right, using trapped ash from coal plants, and the CO2 they emit, we can create an almost indestructible lightweight building material. Lordy that's cool.

The patented process may lead to new building materials, consumer goods, auto parts and other products. According to the website supramics.com, the process creates recyclable materials that will be competitive with metals, plastics and wood products.

Los Alamos demonstrated the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide with two chunks of bonded fly ash, a waste product from coal-burning power plants. Set in a pan of water, the untreated sample quickly crumbles and dissolves. The treated sample, however, remains impervious to the water. Treated fly ash could make a strong, lightweight and economically attractive material for wall board, flooring and other construction products.

The process also converts much of the CO2 into stable carbonate minerals. Each concrete block treated with supercritical C02 can permanently store over a pound of carbon dioxide.

Via: Los Alamos
Picture Via Flickr Commons

Comments (2)

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Very exciting but with one large drawbac
written by sam , May 01, 2007

I think this is very cool but, what I haven't heard addressed is how do we plan to compress all of the CO2. Compressing CO2 is is for lack of a better word "energy intensive". I feel that we should consider the amount of CO2 released by what ever is producing the energy to compress it. Unless they figure out how to produce compressed CO2 with a small amount of energy (and to reach a half liquid half gas state thats a lot of compression) I feel it is not that great of a leap for the simple fact that this coal plant is producing CO2 at a faster rate than can be sequestered using its energy to compress it.

Does the CO2 have to be pressurized?
written by Bryce , May 04, 2007

Does the CO2 have to be pressurized to react with the fly ash or other material (forming carbonate)? Perhaps the reaction could take place with carbon dioxide gas, more slowly, but with less upfront energy required --simply (although I realize from an engineering perspective it would not be simple at all) vent the coal power plant exhaust through a chamber of fly ash.

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